The Killing Zone

Deron "Malibu" McBee was blessed with a body like Arnold Schwarzenegger, the good looks of Lorenzo Lamas, and a mullet so breathtaking it makes me fall to my knees, but his career as an action hero is predominantly limited to supporting roles and the odd vehicle like this. Disappointingly, this particular moment in the spotlight is not his finest. THE KILLING ZONE is a "bad" movie that has a chance of attracting cheese-lovers, but if you're looking for good action and a satisfying story, this one probably won't deliver.

The story: An imprisoned convict (McBee) is recruited from a chain gang to resume his quest of vengeance against a vicious drug lord raining terror upon Los Angeles (James Dalesandro).

The DVD cover bills cult actors Michael Easton and Wally K. Berns over McBee, when in fact they only play supporting and bit parts, respectively. You'd think the questionable marketing would stop there, but it turns out that Deron is hardly even the star of the picture. McBee's character does not start actively seeking revenge until the final 30 minutes, up until which James Dalesandro holds center stage. His antics are mildly compelling, especially the part wherein he's briefly apprehended and jailed, but with the protagonist too busy having arm wrestling matches and showering with women to be proactive, it all feels rather unimportant.

The opening titles and relatively weak production values initially instilled the impression of a made-for-TV movie, but the film turns out to be much more amateurish than that. The screenplay is riddled with rough, elementary dialogue and an odd affinity for characters unrelated to the plot, like the bickering accident victims and the homeless man highlighted during the car chase. There are plenty of parts wherein the writing is so bad and the acting so hammy that it'll make you laugh, but the fact that the story isn't nearly as enthusiastic as the people acting it out makes for very short-lived amusement.

The action content does not redeem the picture at any point. For the most part it's a lot of shooting, a few explosions, and a modest helping of hand-to-hand fighting, but none of it's very good. There are some surprises, like when the Dalesandro character's revealed to be a competent fighter in the middle of an assassination attempt, but a lack of genuine talent keeps this one from delivering anything but the barest of thrills. Altogether, it's a movie best viewed as an experiment or after-hours exercise – that makes it easier to forgive, but not easier to enjoy. Forget about this one.

My review was written in October 1991 after watching the film on a PM video cassette.

"The Killing Zone' Is a passable he-man adventure, released direct to video stores.

Dero nMcBee successfully graduated from the beefcake antic of the "American Gladiators" tv series to play a convict recruited from the chain gang by the Drug Enforcement Administration to go after a Mexican drug lord.

McBee's uncle, Armando Sylvestre, is also committed to getting the evil drug kingpin (played by James Dalesandro), who tortured him and left him for dead years back.

MeBee is a handsome surfer type, but is convincing in the fighting scenes, while Sylvestre ably fills the role usually played by William Smith, as the heor's role model. Feminine pulchritude is provided by rising B-pic starlet Melissa Moore.

Low-budgeter is well-directed by Addison Randall, but his script is too routine, especially in piling on extraneous motivation to get the good guys to whip into action.

This film stars Deron McBee (Malibu from American Gladiators) as the nephew of a DEA agent who is crippled by a South American drugs Lord. Deron gets to do a lot of action and shows off his tall muscular frame to good advantage in the low buget offering. Lots of gun play and hand to hand make this an OK film if you want some uncomplicated viewing. There are few surprises on offer here but i still enjoyed it. The girlfriend of Deron's character was a nicely curvacious young lady for a tall girl - pretty too! Their love scene looked quite passionate and Deron's acting was convincing. It's good to be an actor!

Decided to revisit this PM Entertainment flick starring Deron "Malibu" Mcbee who sports a huge physique, sweet blonde mullet, and viper shades. He doesn't come into play however till the half hour mark when he's sprung from prison and then spends most of the run time arm wrestling, having sweet shower sex with Samurai Cop's Melissa Moore, and working out.

His buddies then start getting picked off by our main bad guy (played with a totally wooden performance from James Dalesandro) that he then decides to gun up. This is a surprisingly decent flick. The gunplay and martial arts are poorly staged, but there's a couple of good car explosions and a decent car chase, car flip and all. The final has the bad guy eat it pretty good but decides to oddly not have Mcbee be the one to knock him off. Making his presence rather pointless overall.